Sunday, May 20, 2007-Day Four
Women's Quarterfinals

There was no lack of excitement today as the women continued to surprise, taking nearly every match to the limit and keeping the crowds guessing.

The day started with No. 12 UCLA vs. No. 4 Florida. After a split, court 2 decided the doubles point in favor of the Bruins. It wasn't long before Yasmin Schnack defeated Anastasia Revzina at No. 3 for a second point, followed by Elizabeth Lumpkin over Whitney Benik at No. 6. The Bruins had three points, were ahead on most of the other courts and, quite frankly, I thought it was a good time to take a break.

My break didn't last very long as I heard the roar of the crowd as Florida took the singles on courts 2, 4 and 1! Very quickly, a three nothing lead had turned into a deadheat and all eyes focused on No. 5 singles. The first set had gone to UCLA's Alex McGoodwin and they were tied at 5-5 in the second. Despite a brief opportunity for Florida to split, it instead went into a breaker in favor of the Bruins and they earned their place in the semis.

Though the Stanford streak continued, it wasn't quite so simple for them today. Doubles points all ran close with only one break as the deciding factor for the 8-6 wins. The first singles win a fairly quick one to Celia Durkin over Audrey Banada at No. 3, followed by a 1&1 to Lindsey Burdette at No. 6. The others were a bit slower, though, and Miami had a chance to pick up a point on Audra Cohen's 6-0,6-3 win over Theresa Logar before Whitney Deason gave the top-seeds their 4-1 win and opportunity to face UCLA tomorrow.

Georgia Tech have earned their first semifinal in an NCAA Championship and they certainly worked for it. The doubles were actually the least of the problem for the Yellow Jackets as they took second and third, leaving No. 1 standing. From there it was a battle -- with the exception of their second point, as Cosmina Ciobanu took out Christy Striplin at No. 5 in (yellow) lightening speed. With two points on the board, the third was not to come quickly as Christian Thompson fought off match points to win a game at 7-5,5-2, before succombing in the next. The score was Georgia Tech 3, Notre Dame 0... for a (very long) moment.

After the third point was when the match really got interesting. At the same time Christian Thompson was battling through a long 5-2 game, her twin sister was splitting sets with Kristi Miller on the court next door. Also, to make matters even more interesting, Tarryn Rudman & Brook Buck were on Court 6 playing the longest game I remember ever watching. It was 6-5 for the Irish's Brook and the deuces kept coming before it went into a tiebreaker -- nearly 45 minutes later!! Brook did win the breaker, but the second set continued to creep, as did Kristi and Catrina on Court 1. The final match left standing -- GT's Amanda McDowell and Kelcy Tefft -- was also in a third set. It seemed like an eternity as Christian cheered on her sis (the exact opposite of what took place the other night when it was Christian in the last match needing the encouragement) and Brook took hers to up the score to 3-2. The Irish cheering didn't last long, though, because Amanda won on Court 4 and the Yellow Jackets flew to the semis.

I witnessed California taking the doubles point, much to the dismay of the loud Georgia-supporting audience. I tried my best to make it through the rest and though I did not, it was more due to fatigue than lack of good singles. No. 10 California upset No. 2 Georgia, 4-1.

I am very excited over tomorrow's matchups. Three out of four of the women's matches will be representing our most west coast state. UCLA-Stanford could prove very interesting since their last meeting was a close 4-3 Stanford win. And the Georgia Tech-California will be worth watching, but the men's matches are first -- Illinois vs. Baylor, followed by Georgia vs. Virginia. A full day of the country's best college tennis awaits at the University of Georgia.

Until Tomorrow,
Marcia Frost

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